Ebony
A feminine name of unknown origin referring to the black ebony wood.
Name Census estimates that about 37,329 living Americans carry the first name Ebony. It is a predominantly female name (98.8% of registrations). The average person named Ebony today is around 38 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ebony births was 1982 (2,315 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ebony. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Ebony with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Ebony is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 455 boys registered with the name since 1880.
- • Compared to the 1980s, recent registration numbers for Ebony have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
37K
~ 1 in 9,182 Americans
Peak year
1982
2,315 babies that year
Average age
38
years old
2008 SSA rank
#5,472
Tracked since 1950
Census
Ebony in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 30,676 people with the first name Ebony, which placed it at #1,238 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#1,238
National first-name rank
People counted
31K
30,676 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
10.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
86.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ebony
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ebony is Black at 86.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (6.5%) and Two or More Races (4.3%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Ebony described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Ebony at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American86.3% · 26,460
- Hispanic or Latino6.5% · 1,987
- Two or more races4.3% · 1,321
- White2.4% · 747
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 88
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.2% · 73
Gender
Gender distribution for Ebony
Ebony leans heavily female at 98.8% of total registrations, but 455 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Ebony as a male name
- Ranked #13,086 in 2008
- 5 male births in 2008
- Peak: 1982 (36 births)
Ebony as a female name
- Ranked #5,472 in 2024
- 23 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1982 (2,279 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ebony appears almost entirely female. Of the 30,670 people counted with this name, 99.3% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Ebony: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ebony from the 1950s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 18,464 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ebony by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Ebony during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Ebonys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 40 states and territories. New York, California, Texas recorded the most babies named Ebony, while Nebraska, Hawaii, West Virginia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 925 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Ebony
The name Ebony is derived from the ebony tree, which is native to tropical regions of Africa and Asia. Ebony wood has been prized for centuries for its dark color and fine texture, making it a valuable material for crafting luxury items like furniture, musical instruments, and decorative objects.
The etymology of the name Ebony can be traced back to the Latin word "ebenus," which was borrowed from the Greek word "ebenos." The Greek word is believed to have originated from an ancient Semitic language, possibly Hebrew or Phoenician, where it referred to the dark-colored wood.
One of the earliest recorded references to the name Ebony comes from the ancient Greek playwright Aristophanes, who mentioned it in his play "The Frogs" in 405 BC. In the play, a character named Ebony is described as a beautiful and desirable woman.
In the Middle Ages, the name Ebony was associated with the Virgin Mary, as she was sometimes referred to as the "Ebony of Paradise" in religious texts and poetry. This association likely contributed to the popularity of the name among Christians during this period.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals named Ebony. One of the earliest was Ebony Prudence, a British poet and playwright who lived in the 17th century (c. 1625-1682). Another was Ebony Woodson, an American abolitionist and women's rights activist who was born into slavery in the early 19th century (c. 1810-1892).
In the 20th century, Ebony Browne (1919-2008) was a renowned American ballet dancer and choreographer, known for her performances with the Dance Theater of Harlem. Ebony Underwood (1961-2019) was a Canadian singer and songwriter who rose to fame as the lead vocalist of the pop group Harem Scarem.
More recently, Ebony Rainford-Brent (born 1983) is a former English cricketer and current cricket commentator and administrator. She was the first black woman to play cricket for the England national team and has been a vocal advocate for diversity and inclusion in the sport.
People
Ebony + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ebony as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with E
Other first names starting with E with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Ebony: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ebony?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 37,329 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ebony going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 9,182 US residents.
Is Ebony a common name?
We classify Ebony as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 39,430 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ebony most popular?
The single biggest year for Ebony was 1982, when 2,315 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ebony is about 38 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Ebony in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 30,676 people with the name Ebony, or 10.16 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,238 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Ebony in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Ebony?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ebony appears almost entirely female. Of the 30,670 people counted with this name, 99.3% were female and only a very small share were male. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Ebony?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ebony is Black at 86.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (6.5%) and Two or More Races (4.3%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Ebony most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Ebony in the 2020 Census, accounting for 86.3% (26,460 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Ebony in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ebony a female name?
Yes, 98.8% of people registered as Ebony in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Ebony still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ebony in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Ebony can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many Americans are named Ebony?
See how many Americans are named Ebony on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.